On Oct. 13-15,  the BVI Olympic Committee in collaboration with the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees Academy hosted a Caribbean Coaching Certification Programme — Training of Trainers’ Workshop.

The two-day course was conducted by Dave Farmer, regional coordinator and director of the Barbados Olympic Academy. The focus of the programme was to reach regional coaches from all disciplines and all affiliates of the NOC and potential sport leaders with the purpose of broadening and strengthening the national adoption of the sport for all concept and building the capacity of a nation.

A total of 17 participants from 15 Caribbean nations attended the workshop. The individuals were affirmed by their NOCs as being sport instructors who are primarily engaged in coaching and training of a broad audience and who are committed to furthering LTAD programmes within their communities.

“The goal of the workshop is for participants to take what they learn here and share it at a grassroots level with those in the community who would otherwise not get exposure to more formal training and to pass on the basics of, and best practices in coaching and sporting principles,” said Mr. Farmer.

The target audience to benefit from such training by the workshop participants includes all those involved with athletes in the capacity of parent, volunteer, untrained physical education teachers who either are directly involved with coaching a sport or working in an administrative capacity. Persons who then demonstrate further interest can then go on to obtain the various levels of certification that would be required by the different sports. 

“We were excited when the BVIOC was accepted to be the co-host of this workshop,” said  BVIOCPresident Ephraim Penn. “Our focus over the last couple of years has been on building the capacity of sports in the territory. The CCCP initiative advances the movement of the popular LTAD series of seminars that the BVIOC is running to guide and train not only Physical Education teachers and sports federations but also those working as volunteers, institutional care givers and managers in the Virgin Islands.”

The CCCP program has been in existence since 1998, and within this time over 1,000 persons in the Caribbean have completed the Coaching Theory Course  and the Caribbean Community Sport Leaders Course. 

The CTC course is designed to equip the coach and stakeholder with a strong theoretical base to accompany his or her practical skills. The CCCP courses have been widely accepted across all the territories of the Caribbean and serve to improve the overall abilities of the Caribbean coaching base. 

The participants from Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname received their certificates at the end of the workshop. 

They are expected to work with their respective NOCs to coordinate the first Coaching Theory Course and the Caribbean Community Sport Leaders Course within three to six months of completing the programme.

The workshop was held under the agreement between CANOC and the Peruvian Olympic Committee and the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee.

A new module for coaches of persons with disabilities has been introduced for an inclusive approach to sport and coaches should be exposed to and trained in the techniques associated with coaching all athletes.

“The CCCP Training of Trainers’ Workshop is run with the expectation that each participant will commit to working with their National Olympic Committees and sports organizations in the development and broadening of an understanding of the fundamental of coaching within their respective countries,” said CANOC Secretary Keith Joseph.

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